The ACLU of Michigan, and other organizations, filed a lawsuit in a federal court this week on behalf of a student organization, seeking an immediate injunction against what it calls illegal voter purge programs conducted by the Michigan Secretary of State, Terri Lynn Land, a staunch Republican and co-chair of the Bush-Cheney Campaign in 2004.
The lawsuit charged Secretary Land, and two other Michigan elections officials, with violating federal voting rights laws by initiating two voter purge programs.
The first, the ACLU said, is a program in which the Michigan Department of State, which administers both driver's license and voter registration records, refuses to issue a legally mandated "confirmation of registration" notice to Michigan voters who obtain driver's licenses in other states.
Instead of notifying such persons about the status of their registration, the Department of State simply cancels their voter registration. This action violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), the ACLU argued.
The second voter purge program also violates federal voting rights laws, the ACLU contended. According to a press statement from the ACLU, a Michigan state law requires local clerks to nullify the registrations of newly-registered voters whenever their original voter identification cards are returned by the post office as undeliverable. This law violates other federal NVRA provisions that allow voters to remain on the voter rolls for at least two federal elections after voter registration cards are returned.
"The state of Michigan is breaking the law. By going forward with these unlawful purges, the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that the state is trying to disfranchise voters," said Meredith Bell-Platts, staff counsel with the ACLU Voting Rights Project.
College students, a demographic that heavily favors Barack Obama, will be impacted most by these vote purge operations, said Jonathan Doster, Michigan Field Organizer for United State Student Association.
"Students and young adults generally are much more transient than older adults, are much more likely to have driver's licenses from different states than their colleges and are much more likely to live in multi-unit housing, such as dormitories and apartments," Doster stated.
The ACLU also contended that low-income voters and people of color could also face mass disfranchisement at the polls under the Michigan Secretary of State's voter purge rules.
"We have repeatedly advised Secretary Land's office that these voter purge programs are unlawful, yet they have refused to bring their practices into compliance," said Bradley Heard, senior attorney with Advancement Project, which joined the ACLU in the lawsuit.
"Purge programs of this type are a blatant violation of federal law barring the immediate removal of voters from the rolls based solely on information suggesting problems with their residence address," added Heard.
Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan, added, "With Michigan set to be one of the most important battleground states in this election and turnout predicted to be the highest in state history, we are going to do everything we can to make sure that every vote counts and that nobody is illegally purged from the voter rolls."
In addition to this lawsuit to bar the voter purges, the ACLU of Michigan is circulation a flier providing voters with information on their rights. Find out more information here: www.aclumich.org
